The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-08
THE POLICE MATRoNs STORY.
She Tells of the Night She Spent with
Horrible Terror

She Tells OF the Night She Spent with
Horrible Terror.
The Boston Globe published an interest
ing letter from a police matron the other
day, and the Boston Transcript the same
afternoon vouched for the truth of The story
told 1t is as follows:
Before my recent appointment to the
position of police matron i'll a suburb of
Boston had heard much of what terrors
some of the arrested women were, and how
it would be impossible for any woman to
manage them. Some had expressed the
opinion that | should get whipped, and in
view of my slender build others had con-
temptuously asked me what expected TO
do if l should have 200-pound woman to
take care of. Irepled that / should do the
same as if she weighed 100 pounds.
However, in want of any previous expe-
rience with this class of women and various
conflicting notions as to my fitness of the
place, ! waited my first case with some
anxiety. AT last it came in the person of
a large, stout Irish woman, weighing fully
200 pounds, sufficiently drunk to be noisy
and quarrelsome and spelling for fight.
The officers attention was first attracted
to her by her noisy demonstrations and the
crowd which she had drawn about her
When she saw him approaching she pulled
her hat from her head, and waving it at
him, dared him to come on He took her
by the arm and tried to quiet her and make
her go home. This she stoutly refused to
do, and determined to fight then and there
AS it was Sunday and large crowd gath
ering, and her noise and abuse increasing
he attempted her arrest. She Immediately
threw herself upon the ground, and he was
obliged to call upon the citizens to help him.
Another officer came along, and between
them all they conveyed her to the station
she making desperate resistance at every
step.
/ was sent for at once, and as soon as
opened the outer door | could hear the noise
Guided by this l reached the cell, and found
her glaring at the officer, who was vainly
trying to still the disturbance. Stepping
quietly up to her said. ''Well, Mary what
is itP
She stopped at once and looked puzzled.
Before she had time to reply the officer re-
quested me to ascertain her name. Turning
to her, l said;
"Your name is Mary, isn't it,"
Eyes, man, she said, sit is; it's Mary"
'Mary whatr" asked Having received
her reply, / told the officer that his services
would not be needed as long as was there
Upon his departure | told her not to be
afraid, that had come to be with her, and
that no one should hurt or trouble her. Go
ing up to her ] stroked her hair and patted
her face, soothing her excitement as though
she We're little child, and asked her to tell
me all the story. OF course she had done
nothing, but had been arrested just as she
had stepped off horse car and had been
thrown down and dragged to the station.
During her recital she was very quiet, but
wept freely and bemoaned bitterly her mis-
fortune. | sympathized with her, and as
turned to take off my outside things a look
of distress came over her face.
"Oh, ma am, you amt going to leave
mem she said
"No, Mary" answered, 'if you'll be
quiet Ill stay with you all the time after
have taken off my bonnet
''If you'll only stay with me, ma'am, I'll
never make bit of noise. I'll be just as
quiet as You want me to be-"
"All right" replied, ''I'll be back soon. :"
As passed into the guard room the Off
Ger remarked that it was surprising how
quickly she stopped her noise when l spoke
to. her said that / would guarantee that
there would be no more disturbance from
her. When returned she wanted to know
if l would stay all night. Upon my assuring
her that would, she looked grateful, took
my hand and allowed me to search her.
Finding that she was still heated and ex-
cited, procured cold water, bathed her
head very freely, and she was soon able to
tell a coherent story. left her after awhile
W HERSELF, Will an occdSIoildl NlSlU, anu
in a few hours had the pleasure of seeing
her compose herself to sleep. She reused
once during the night and asked for drink
and a fan, apologizing for troubling me,
went to sleep and slept quietly till morning.
When the officer came, in the morning, be-
fore she was taken to court, she stoutly de-
MED having been drunk. Seeing that there
was likelihood of another disturbance, |
told him would see to it that she answered
to the charge. He left her, and turning to
her l said:
MARY, you were drunk, and you must tell
the Judge So"
eff you say SO, ma'am, will"
And she did. l gave her wise counsel,
promised to let her family know where she
was, and shook hands with her. She badc
me an afectionate farewell, and left her a
happier, if not better woman. And this
was my night with a ''terror"